Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Tighten that Belt

5 for 35 over the first 10 games. His OPS is under .500 and he's struck out almost 1/4 of his ABs (8x)

This is a significatnly dismal line. I think that Cody Ross is still, I dunno, about a week away. Maybe another 10 games at the most -- so this gives Belt a little time to prove his meddle.

But, the truth is, if he's still under .200 (and really, if he's under about .240) when Ross comes back, I think the smart move is to move Belt down to Fresno for a little while and let him get his numbers back up.

The concerning thing is not so much the lack of hits because sometimes the hits aren't coming. We've all gone through a 5 for 35 spell (well, those of us who've played professional baseball ...... I've never played pro ball). But in the first series v the Dodgers, Belt was working counts, seeing a lot of pitches and putting the ball in play.

These last 6 games, he's completely befuddled. He's buckling on curve balls, he's swinging early on off speed stuff. He's grinding, legitimately grinding. Almost lunging to get the ball in play.

I think Belt needs to be patient. And though he's faced quality pitching -- the back end of every pitching staff he's gone up against has been lackluster. He should be at least working the bullpens, but he's not. Not against SD, not againts the Cards, and last night he was flumoxed.

It seems unfair to demand production from a young kid in his first 10 games, but the truth is if he's not producing after all the sunshine that we the fans and they the team management has been blowing up his ass, then he's going to be down in the dumps and emtionally unstable for who knows how long.

A demotion to AAA might do the same thing, but if he can go down for 20 or 30 games, learn how to judge a curveball, and get a gawdy avg, then he might come back up in June ready to kick ass again.